Chief of Royal Malaysian Navy, Admiral Tan Sri Ahmad Kamarulzaman Hj Ahmad Badaruddin is on an official visit to Pakistan. During the visit, Chief of Royal Malaysian Naval Forces called on Chief of the Naval staff, Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi at Naval Headquarters Islamabad on 19 Feb 18, where discussions on professional matters and avenues of existing and future naval collaboration were focused.

In the second leg of the visit, Admiral Tan Sri Ahmad Kamarulzaman Hj Ahmad Badaruddin met with various Naval Field Commands at Lahore and Karachi. The dignitary visited Pakistan Navy War College, Lahore, and called on Commandant Pakistan Navy War College, Rear Admiral Naveed Ahmed Rizvi.

During the meetings, besides discussions on professional matters and bilateral naval collaboration, the Chief of Royal Malaysian Navy lauded Pakistan Navy’s role and commitments in maintaining peace and stability in the region through persistent participation in Coalition Counter terrorism and Counter Piracy Task Forces.

The visit of Chief of Royal Malaysian Navy to Pakistan is expected to further strengthen the bilateral defence collaboration between Pakistan and Malaysia in general and the two Navies in particular.

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]]>http://www.thedemocrate.com/index.php/2018/02/21/chief-of-royal-malaysian-navy-visits-field-commands-of-pakistan-navy-at-lahore-and-karachi/feed/01413AfPak can get everything as good Neighbors.http://www.thedemocrate.com/index.php/2018/02/21/pak-afghanistan-can-get-everything-as-good-neighbors/
http://www.thedemocrate.com/index.php/2018/02/21/pak-afghanistan-can-get-everything-as-good-neighbors/#respondWed, 21 Feb 2018 13:09:11 +0000http://www.thedemocrate.com/?p=1403Islamabad/thedemocrate.com;

By/ DR ZAFAR NAWAZ JASPAL

Courtesy by Arab News.

The increasing anarchy within Afghanistan is alarming for all its neighbors and immensely intimidating for Pakistan. Therefore, Islamabad’s earnest desire is to restore peace and stability in the country.

However, its sincere efforts to improve its neighbor’s political and security situation seem unappealing both to Kabul and Washington. Despite “unsubstantiated” criticism from the Afghan national unity government and allegations by the Trump Administration, the government of Pakistan is endeavoring to engage constructively with both in an attempt to restore peace in Afghanistan. Recent developments do offer some optimism about the tangled relationship between the two countries.

On February 13, 2018, Daniel R Coats, the US Director of National Intelligence, told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that analysts expect the overall situation in Afghanistan to “deteriorate modestly” in 2018 due to endless “political instability, sustained attacks by the Taliban-led insurgency, unsteady Afghan National Security Forces performance, and chronic financial shortfalls”. As a result, restoring peace and stability in the country, and organizing impartial parliamentary elections in July 2018 and a presidential election in 2019, will be herculean tasks for Ghani.

Meanwhile, the Afghan government and the Trump administration accuse Pakistan of providing safe haven to members of the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network, from where they can plan and execute attacks inside Afghanistan. Pakistani officials say they are doing their best to assure the Afghan government about their sincerity in curbing cross-border militancy.
The recent visit to Kabul by Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, offered some hope for the thawing of relations between the countries. He reiterated that the path to regional peace and stability passes through Afghanistan. Speaking at the Chiefs of Defense Conference on February 13, he tried to convince Afghan and American participants that Pakistan is not supporting militant groups. He said Pakistani armed forces had successfully conducted military operations and eliminated all terrorist sanctuaries from its soil. “However, residual signatures of terrorists who take advantage of the presence of 2.7million Afghan refugees and the absence of effective border security coordination, are also being traced and targeted through ongoing operation Radd ul Fasaad,” he added.

The continuing failure of Pakistan to improve its troubled relationship with Afghanistan is perilous for its security, and a destructive obstacle to its economic prosperity.

Bajwa called on the Afghan government to reciprocate by eliminating anti-Pakistan militant sanctuaries in Afghanistan for the sake of peace and stability in the region.

His frank and honest appeal to Kabul is a step in the right direction. Without such reciprocity and the elimination of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan sanctuaries in Afghanistan, improving the tangled relationship between Islamabad and Kabul will be impossible.

Importantly, the sharp downturn in relations between Pakistan and the United States negatively influences the affairs of Kabul and Islamabad. It creates more space for India to play a bigger role in Afghanistan, which Pakistan considers detrimental to its national security.

To balance this Indian and American influence in its neighborhood, Islamabad has been working to improve its relations with the Russians and Chinese. This has annoyed Washington and also undermines its positive role in Pakistani affairs.
The United States is not prepared to compromise on its control in Afghanistan and so is apprehensive about the Russians and Chinese having a growing role in the country. Moreover, Washington is reluctant to engage the Afghan Taliban, given that a condition of such dialogue would be the complete withdrawal of foreign troops.
Hence, the possibility of any meaningful dialogue to secure enduring peace and stability in Afghanistan seems slim, and maybe impossible until NATO and US troops leave Afghanistan. The reluctance of the Afghan Taliban to participate unconditionally in talks with the unity government also fuels the mistrust of Pakistan in Kabul and Washington.
To conclude, the continuing failure of Pakistan to improve its troubled relationship with Afghanistan is perilous for its security, and a destructive obstacle to its economic prosperity.

Admittedly, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project is progressing despite the turmoil in the region. Perhaps it will receive a boost if the Pakistan-Afghanistan relationships ever settles down.

Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal is an Islamabad-based analyst and professor at the School of Politics and International Relations, Quaid-i-Azam University. E-mail: jaspal_99@hotmail.com

Supreme Court of Pakistan has announced its verdict on petitions challenging the Elections Act 2017, ruling that a person disqualified under Article 62 and 63 cannot serve as the head of a political party.

The decision by the three-member of SC bench headed by Mr. Chief Justice Saqib Nisar is considered another blow to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) as Nawaz Sharif will no longer remain the party’s president. As a result of the verdict, all decisions taken by Nawaz Sharif as PML-N’s president stand null and void

Elections Act 2017 was pushed through the upper and lower houses of the parliament earlier and had paved the way for Nawaz to resume his position as party president after being disqualified in the Panama Papers case.

As a consequence, Senate tickets issued by Nawaz are also declared void, throwing the fate of March 3 Senate elections in doubt.

In the verdict read out by the chief justice, it was also stated that a party’s presidency is directly related to the parliament.

Earlier today, the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar concluded the hearing of several petitions against the recently-passed Elections Act 2017.

A three-member bench had been hearing several petitions challenging specific clauses of the act that led to Nawaz Sharif’s appointment as party president following his dismissal as prime minister last year.

During today’s hearing, the chief justice remarked that the country’s leadership is respectable, adding that the media misreported the court’s remarks.

Chief Justice Nisar also observed that there is no reason for the apex court to use words like thief, adding that the fallout of the issue is unacceptable.

Addressing the Pakistan Peoples Party counsel Latif Khosa during the hearing, the chief justice remarked that there would be a difference in rallies held by you or [slain party leader and former prime minister] Benazir Bhutto.

Another petitioner’s counsel, Farogh Naseem, argued that there is a precedent of a court order against a political party’s head.

The chief justice remarked that in other countries intra-party elections are held but the situation is different in Pakistan.

“The party head is an important position,” the chief justice observed, adding that in Pakistan people are willing to sacrifice their lives for their leaders.

From disqualification to party president

Following Nawaz’s disqualification as prime minister in July 2017 in the Panama Papers case, the ruling party managed to amend the Constitution to allow the former premier to retain his chairmanship of the PML-N.

As a result, the Elections Act 2017 was passed by Parliament bringing Nawaz back as the party president despite his disqualification from the National Assembly.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid, MNA Jamshaid Dasti, National Party and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), among others, challenged the law for allowing a disqualified parliamentarian to become a party head.

The petitions, challenging specific clauses of the Elections Act 2017, state that Nawaz’s appointment as party president is in violation of Clause 5 of the Political Parties Order 2002 and Article 17 of the Constitution.

Media Cell Bilawal House has clarified multiple news items published in a section of both national and international media mentioning Ms. Kirshna Kolhi as the first woman from Hindu community to have been nominated by PPP as Senator.
It is imperative to clarify that PPP had nominated and elected Ms Ratna Bhaagwandas Chawla as the first Hindu woman as Senator in 2006.
Ms Kirshna Kolhi is the first-ever Dalit woman nominated by the Pakistan Peoples Party for the Senate seat. Kolhi caste is mentioned at No. 23 in the Pakistani Schedule Castes Ordinance-1957. Dalit, which means oppressed or broken people, has become an alternate collective identification for the 40 non-Muslim castes declared in above ordinance 60 years ago.
The honor to nominate first-ever non-Muslim Senator is also enjoyed by the PPP, which elected a Dalit Dr Khatumal Jeewan as Senator in 2009 on a general seat. Likewise, Engineer Gianchand is the second Dalit to be elected as Senator in 2015 by the PPP also on a general seat.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led PPP also nominated and got elected Hariram Kishorilal as Senator on seat reserved for non-Muslims from Sindh in 2012.
With the election of Ms Kirshna Kolhi and Anwar Laldean, a Christian senior worker of the Party, the number of non-Muslims elected so far as Senators by the PPP would grow to six, an unmatched representation in the Upper House for minorities by any other political parties in the 70 years history of Pakistan.

To His Excellency,
The Honorable,
All-Party Parliamentary Kashmir Group Chairperson,

I, Mushaal Hussein Mullick, a victim of a divided Kashmiri Family and wife of detained Kashmiri Leader Mohammad Yasin Malik Chairman Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front am writing this letter to you in immense pain and sorrow but with a hope attached in this hour of helplessness and enormous psychological stress. I request you to take urgent notice of the current gross human rights violation (taking place in Indian Administered Jammu and Kashmir) in regard to my husband.
Our five-year-old daughter Raziyah Sultana and I have been deprived of meeting Yasin Malik for the past three and a half years because each time we visit Srinagar we are harassed, attacked and abused by the Indian authorities. My husband living in Indian held Jammu and Kashmir has been denied a passport by Indian state Authorities for the past five and a half years. We desperately want this long separation between our family to end.
My Husband Mohammad Yasin Malik has been languishing in Prisons since decades. His health is at critical risk for the past three years.

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At present my husband, Jammu Kashmir liberation front (JKLF) Chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik is admitted at SKIMS Srinagar after not being able to pass urine for the past two days. Instead of urine he is passing blood, therefore he was urgently taken to SKIMS where senior urologist doctor Salim Wani sahib and cardiologist Nisar sahib did his thorough check up. His INR and USG were taken and USG showed blood clots in his urinary track which needed to be removed immediately. He was shifted in emergency to the operation theater where a catheter was fixed in his urinary track from where blood and urine is being extracted. It is pertinent to mention that Yasin was last arrested by police on 6th February 2018 and immediately shifted to central jail Srinagar. Prior to that his INR and PTI tests had been taken which had come out alarmingly dangerous. Doctors doubled the dosage of medicine for his heart ailment and advised him to go for regular checkups every second day. But Indian State Authorities at Srinagar central jail refused to accept doctors’ advice and did not take him for the much-needed checkups nor provided lifesaving medicines which further deteriorated his health. He was released after some 10 days of incarceration but since last two days his urine has stopped coming.

Yasin Malik is constantly being put in solitary confinement in awfully shabby conditions at Humhama and other places quiet often, hence he has grown very weak and frail and has become prone to chronic intestinal infections that require regular stomach wash with high anti biotics and severe urinary tract infections that have led to 15 Kilos of weight loss. His personal doctors have advised many medical checkups regarding his heart, kidney and other ailments. Yasin Malik’s kidney stone has enlarged risking his kidney function severely. Medical tests regarding his heart ailment are also unsatisfactory as he has a metallic valve in his heart which requires a lifesaving drug on a daily basis but is not being given to him on a daily basis, thus risking his life from blood clotting. The doctors at the hospital termed his overall health condition at high risk and urged the Indian State to not arrest him and shift him to an ICU at the Hospital urgently to monitor his heart valve functioning at a 24 hours basis. Unfortunately, after medical examinations he is taken back to the prisons, interrogation centers, jails etc.

I urge you to put pressure on the Indian State to return the Passport of Yasin Malik so that he can travel abroad and shift him overseas for medical treatment as there is no guarantee to the survival of his life in the present circumstances. The Indian State is purposely trying to slowly kill my Husband through torture, rigorous arrests, unhygienic jail environment, poisonous injections, expired food and starvation from fluids, lack of medical treatment, contaminated water to drink, psychological and physical torture. Let me add further that Yasin Malik is not a terrorist but a Political prisoner and a Prisoner of Conscience. Every human life is precious and as per the Universal Human Rights Charter every religion, every human being has right to Self Determination. This is the power truth. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. This is stated in the 1st article of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. All Faiths declare the unity of human beings and freedom for all.
The freedom movement of Kashmiris is rooted in the struggle of the people for the exercise of the right of self-determination. Peaceful processions chanting demands for freedom are fired upon by Indian Army and police pellets and bullets. Thousands and thousands of innocent men, women and children have been killed or wounded. Yasin Malik is the leading man of this struggle and a symbol of this peaceful resistance movement of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
If one compares the killings and atrocities committed during World War 2, Jammu and Kashmir falls number second in comparison of the tyranny and brutality.

I urge you, as the All-Party Parliamentary Kashmir Group Chairman to use your good office to take notice of the Indian state-sponsored violence in Kashmir and prevail upon the Indian authorities to immediately cease all such actions that violate the human rights, dignities and fundamental entitlements of the Kashmiri people. Because the United Nations is not only the guarantor of fundamental human rights of people anywhere in the world but is also responsible for taking pro-active measures to ensure peace and protection of human rights in regions prone to conflict such as the South Asian region.
Peace in the region would remain elusive without the resolution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN resolutions that call for a free and fair election to determine the wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
I, as a global citizen wish to make this world a better place to live in, where our children, babies, future generations, our five-year-old daughter Raziyah Sultana (who has unfortunately been a victim of Indian Army’s brutality and doesn’t have the joy and privilege of living with both her parents under the same roof in her homeland Jammu and Kashmir) breath an air of freedom and tranquility. Where curfews do not restrict children from going to schools, where children do not lose their innocence, where children are not born orphans, half orphans, where children our not left homeless, blinded or crippled by pellets or without the love and compassion of their parents.

Hoping for your earliest and positive reply in ensuring a quick return of my husband’s Passport from the Indian State so that he can travel abroad for medical treatment as time is running short due to his fast Deteriorating health. In Accordance to All-Party Parliamentary Kashmir Group’s Purpose To support the right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people through dialogue; to seek support from British parliamentarians; to highlight the abuses of human rights in Kashmir; and to seek justice for the people, I am Writing this letter to you with a lot of hope attached in this hour of helplessness and enormous psychological stress. Please do not let the hope die in humanity. Save my husband!
Regards,

Ministry of Narcotics Control (MNC) Pakistan, has conducted anti-drug awareness session in National University of Modern Languages (NUML), here in Islamabad. Mr. Maj. Gen. (Retd) Zia Uddin Najam HI(M), Rector, National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Brig. Muhammad Ibrahim, Director General, NUML, Mufti Jameel Ahmad, Head of Mass Communication Department alongwith other faculty members welcome the Secretary MNC and his team.

As chief guest secretary (MNC) Iqbal Mehmood, while expressing, explained that, the counter narcotics efforts of the Government are led by the Ministry of Narcotics Control (MNC) and Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) that include a number of multi-dimensional operations initiated under the National Narcotics Policy, 2010. The three-pronged policy objectives are (i) Drug Supply Reduction, (2) Drug Demand Reduction and (3) International Cooperation. In terms of the Drug Supply Reduction, our activities are targeted on dismantling of drug trafficking networks containing the smuggling, trafficking and distribution of narcotics in the country, strict control on movements of precursor chemicals, and complete eradication of poppy cultivation.

As regards Drug Demand Reduction, the MNC / ANF are actively engaged in conducting awareness activities including seminars, walks, debates and sports to sensitize youth, a major part of our population, against hazards of narco-drugs. Further, four Model Addiction Treatment & Rehabilitation Centers (MATRCs) at Islamabad, Quetta, Sukkhar and Karachi are also

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operative, wherein free of cost treatment is extended to the drugs affectees. The MATRC in Peshawar is under construction with the help of the KP Government. On the front of International Cooperation, the MNC is proactively engaged with the concerned international narcotics control agencies / organizations for ensuring a drug-free world. Pakistan has signed 32 MoUs / Agreements with different countries in order to promote bilateral and multilateral regional and international efforts to combat drug trafficking.

Ministry in collaboration with ANF has left no stone unturned to eliminate this menace from the society. We all need to contribute our part in this national cause. Students especially young generation has to lead this front, secretary MNC added.

In pursuance to promote potential investment opportunities, willingness to work together to synergize the efforts for greater efficiency, Punjab Board of Investment and trade has inked numerous Memorandum of Understanding with some well-known organizations named Zing Digicom (PVT) Limited, Chem. Energy Corporation, Liberty Mills and Engro Corporation.

Zing is a Fintech company with an objective to create a digital ecosystem. They offer quality financial services at grass root level with convenience and reliability to ensure financial inclusion for the un/under banked. It collaborates with financial institutions while offering innovative platforms which can frame a financial ecosystem on multiple dimensions. The MoU was signed by the Chief Executive Officer of Punjab Board of Investment & Trade, Mr. Jahanzeb Burana and Chief Executive Officer Zing Digicom (Pvt) Limited, Mr. Ghazanfar Ali Khan to collaborate and join hands to explore opportunities for promoting digital commerce behaviors and make due contribution to the development of Punjab’s Digital Eco System.

Liberty Mills is a textile manufacturer and exporter with subsidiaries in power generation and aluminum can manufacturing whereas Engro Corporation is a Pakistani entity involved in the production of fertilizers, petrochemicals, power generation, foods and mining. The companies intend to develop a mutual consensus and cooperation with PBIT for further collaboration to address the water issue in the province by setting up water treatment facilities. The Memorandum was signed by their authorized representative from Liberty Mills, Tanveer Ahmed and Chief Strategy Officer, Mr. Nadir Salar Qureshi from Engro Corporation.

Mr. Jahanzeb Burana, assured the companies of full advisory, facilitation and transactional support as Punjab Board of Investment and trade is working persistently with an aim to increase business in the province for high economic growth and is moving up swiftly on the ladder of progress for achieving its objectives.